


The Life and Times of Zuko

by MiHnn



Series: The World of The Benders [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Coming of Age, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-02-07
Updated: 2012-02-20
Packaged: 2017-10-30 18:18:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/334686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiHnn/pseuds/MiHnn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of un-related drabbles</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt : Sky  
> Genre : Bildungsroman (coming-of-age)

All of his life, Zuko was convinced that he had lived a life that was a lie. He awoke every single day as a Prince, he was waited on hand and foot, he was never allowed to go anywhere without an escort and had everything he could ever need and so much more as long as it was something money could buy.

Yes, Zuko lived a rich, spoiled life. Now, years later, he could look upon that farce of a life with utter disgust. 

He had a little sister who was more talented than him and who loved to shove that fact again and again in his face. He had a mother who loved him unconditionally but abandoned him nonetheless. 

He had a father who did not love him. 

The day his father faced him in the Agni Kai and burned him with fire fuelled with hate and vengeance, Zuko believed that that was the day he finally grew and became a man.

How wrong he was. 

It took defeating Ozai and Azula and bringing about balance between the four elements for him to learn humility as well as the difference of right from wrong. It took him standing behind what he believed in, Uncle Iroh by his side for him to find the strength that had been buried under the need for approval by his family. 

Now, he was Fire Lord, ruler of the Fire Nation and he had everything imagined. Only now, what he had was everything money could not buy. For the first time in a long time, he finally felt that he could do anything and that he had the support he had always wanted. Like the vast, blue sky, he knew his potential to do good was endless. 

He had friends to thank for that.


	2. The Promise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt : Sky and Fabric  
> Genre : Hurt/Comfort

Zuko spent days in bed with the curtains drawn and his head under expensive silk. He had gotten used to the physician who visited him once every morning and once every night. He had gotten used to the soldier who brought him his meals in silence three times a day. He had even gotten used to the gentle lull of the ship as the water lapped against the metal. What he couldn’t get used to was his uncle’s sad sigh every time he came to visit him.

“You must come outside, Prince Zuko,” Uncle Iroh always said. “The fresh ocean air does wonders.”

“I don’t want to go outside,” Zuko would mumble every time as he clutched the sheets around him tighter. “Leave me alone, Uncle.”

And Iroh did, leaving fragrant Jasmin tea right beside the meal that Zuko would never touch. 

Days and days passed by and the Young Prince was increasingly becoming aware that every movement of the ship took him away from the Fire Nation, from home. He couldn’t help but think about his last moments as an un-banished Prince. He hadn’t even packed his things. It was Uncle Iroh who had embraced him after his own father had burned him and his sister had laughed at the incident. It was Uncle Iroh who had gotten a ship ready so that they could leave the instant the failed Agni Kai was over with a crew willing to follow a disgraced Prince into exile. 

A day didn’t go by that Zuko, a child of only thirteen years, didn’t contemplate taking his own life. 

It took a month before his quarters began to bore him. He suddenly felt restless and wanted nothing more than to leave his private chambers. He waited until nightfall to sneak out of the cabin, using a blanket to cover the scar his father had so generously bestowed on him. 

The night was cold, but welcome. Zuko snuk around to the back of the boat, knowing that there would be less guards posted there and looked up at the sky. It was a quarter moon that night, the stars few and the clouds many. But all Zuko could think about was how much he missed home. 

“I was wondering where you were.”

Zuko’s grip tightened around his blanket, even though he knew his Uncle had seen his new face. “I want to go home.”

There was a pause. “Someday you shall.”

“But for that to happen, I have to find the Avatar.” 

He could practically hear the hesitation in his uncle’s voice as he said, “Yes.”

Desperate, he turned to his uncle. “Will you help me?”

“The Avatar hasn’t been seen for nearly one hundred years.”

“But that doesn’t mean he’s not out there.”

“Zuko-“

“Please, Uncle.”

His uncle sighed. “You must train every day. You must be prepared for when you meet him.”

Zuko nodded. “I will.”

“Good.” Zuko couldn’t help but notice that he sounded like a General then. “We begin at sunrise.” He smiled. “Get some sleep, Prince Zuko.”

Zuko nodded once again as he watched his uncle leave. He knew what this meant. He had to let go of the blanket starting from morning and let the crew see his face. The heavy fabric would be something that he would miss. Maybe, a small part of his hoped, they would think it was a fire-bending accident. 

Zuko watched the old General walk away and felt his chest tighten with guilt. He owed his uncle so much. Nothing could begin to describe exactly how much. 

“Uncle!” General Iroh paused and turned around. “Thank you.”

His uncle smiled gently. “You’re welcome, Prince Zuko.”

Once his uncle had left, Zuko turned back to the ocean, a promise making itself known within him. He will go home one day. He will. 


	3. Cruel Intentions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt : Sky  
> Genre : Horror

His mother had been gone for so long that Zuko was afraid that he might forget what she looked like. There had been portraits that had hung on the walls of the palace which had been taken down the morning of his mother’s disappearance. Then one by one, all her items were taken and before long all he had to remind himself of his mother were the turtle-ducks in the pond. 

Every single day Zuko would visit the pond with bread to feel the small animals, loving nothing more than spending time with them on a day with clear skies. While before they had been partial to his mother’s presence, now all it took were his familiar footfalls to call the creatures towards him. It became a ritual, how he fed them. He would tear the loaf into pieces he judged to be roughly the size his mother used to break them into and then place them on his open palm the way his mother used to hold out hers. 

Every morning and every evening he used to forgo his lessons and feed the turtle-ducks. His father never chastised him for his choices. If anything, his father didn’t even acknowledge his existence while his sister was given the utmost attention and groomed to take their father’s place when the time came. For the first time in a long time, Zuko realised that the only people who loved him unconditionally were his mother and uncle.

It was a typical day when Zuko summoned a loaf of bread and made his way to the pond he had loved so much, only to falter when the silence seemed strange. He moved quickly, hoping that someone hadn’t moved the turtle-ducks to keep him from feeding them anymore. They were getting quit fat. He had heard people complain of the Prince who no longer did anything. Once he got there, his eyes widened in horror.   
There laid the turtle-ducks in a row, a cruel jape of a mother and father leading their offspring. Each of them lifeless, their necks broken. 

Zuko didn’t even notice the cry that tore from his throat as he fell to his knees before them. How could this have happened? Who could be so cruel?

“Zuko?” his uncle’s soft voice asked gently from behind. He then heard his uncle take in a breath and knew that he was as shocked as Zuko. 

Iroh knelt down alongside his nephew and with gentle hands picked up the smallest turtle-duck. “Who would do this?”

“Psh.”

Their eyes snapped up. Azula? 

“What?” his little sister asked Uncle Iroh in a bored tone. “You did ask me to stop him from feeding the turtle-ducks.” She turned to her brother. “I was doing you a favour, Dum Dum.”

Before they could say anything else, she yawned, turned on her heel and left the two of them kneeling near the row of dead bodies.

Uncle Iroh’s eyes had filled with un-shed tears. “I’m sorry, Zuko. I had no idea your sister was so…” He paused, words failing him.

Angry, Zuko rubbed the tears from his eyes. He didn’t know how, but Azula will pay for this one day. He swore that to himself, his fingers forming fists in determination.


End file.
